Private company Metro Trains is receiving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to offset lower passenger revenue, allowing the company to record bumper profits despite reduced patronage post-pandemic.
Work-from-home habits have left an enduring dent in Melbourne’s public transport usage and associated fare revenue, with train passenger numbers in the first three months of 2025 still 22 per cent below 2019 levels.
Tram passenger numbers were down 20 per cent compared to 2019, while Melbourne’s bus network patronage was down 6 per cent. Metro Trains reported 17.9 million passengers in March this year – 4.2 million fewer than in March 2019, representing a loss of about 137,000 passengers every day.
But Metro – majority owned by Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation – has largely escaped the financial impact of the passenger downturn due to contract provisions, which have set it up for “strong profit results” until the contract ends in November 2027.
It would now be cheaper to take the network back into public hands are run it for the people by the people rather than topping up an off shore company profit result. This is shameful and yet another example of the shocking contracts we have now in Victoria.
The 2025/26 state budget, released last month, shows the Allan government will spend $489 million over the next four years to address “COVID-19 impacts” on Metro train services, including offsetting “lower revenue associated with changed travel patterns to maintain service delivery”.
The COVID-related top-up will cost $176.1 million in the coming financial year, $182.1 million in 2026-27, $103.1 million in 2027-28 and $28.3 million in 2028-29.
The $489 million package was announced as part of a budget straining under Victoria’s record-high debt, forecast to hit $155.5 billion by the end of this month and $194 billion by mid-2029.
The expense comes on top of previous “reset payments” made to Metro and other transport operators since January 2022.
Metro Trains service has been terrible so this is another example of how an operator is rewarded for poor behaviour. Consistently voted the worst performing train network in the country.
The state spent $389.9 million in 2023 and $238.3 million in 2024 offsetting lower fare revenue across Metro, Yarra Trams, and the regional V/Line network.
Passenger-fare revenue is pooled from across the public transport network and distributed by the Transport Department to private transport operators, along with fixed payments set out in their contracts.
The Age
Every day and in every way Victorian’s are being gouged by poorly written and executed contracts. This another example.
So we pay the train company even with they do not carry passengers.